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French government to ban Turkish nationalist Gray Wolves group

The announcement comes after the defacement of an Armenian genocide memorial in France. Turkey and France have had a series of disagreements in 2020.

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A French army soldier stands guard outside the National Armenian Memorial Center in Decines-Charpieu, near Lyon, on Nov. 1, 2020, where pro-Turkish graffiti tags have been painted overnight. Inscriptions read "RTE," which refers to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and "Grey Wolf" (Loup Gris), the name of an ultra-nationalist movement in Turkey. — JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images

The French government plans to ban a Turkish nationalist group after the defacement of an Armenian memorial as tensions between France and Turkey continue to rise.

On Sunday, a memorial to the Armenian genocide was defaced in the French city of Lyon, which has a large Armenian population. The monument commemorates Armenians who were killed in final years of the Ottoman Empire in what is now Turkey in the early 20th century. The vandals spray-painted “RTE,” which refers to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and “Gray Wolves” on the structure. The Gray Wolves are a Turkish ultranationalist group.

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